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A critical guide to TV, movies, theatre and music, with daily event roundups to max out your social calendar
The Hunger Games, starring Donald Sutherland, Jennifer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson, is coming to theatres on March 23, but a second theatrical trailer was released this week for eager Hungarians itching for some new details. Pretty soon there’s going to be a lot of dead young adults on your movie screen.
In case you missed it, click to check out the first trailer »
Mr. David Cronenberg (Image: FICG.mx)
Toronto-based director David Cronenberg (also known as the man who turns Viggo Mortensen into a fan boy) is about to get a high-tech retrospective of his work, courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF has received a cool $50,000 from the provincial government to make a Cronenberg-inspired augmented-reality game that will be unveiled in phases through 2013, with the first section to launch in September, according to Cinemablend. TIFF’s grant proposal says the interactive game will use social media, geomapping and 3D photo-modelling technology to create sensory experiences for the player. We can’t quite imagine what the final product will look like (and, judging from the fact that TIFF is still looking for a project manager, neither can they), but take a director known for his surreal, sexual and violent narratives, toss in some technology that will heighten that mood, and the end product will probably scare the pants off the average exhibition goer. No word on whether post-scare showers or shoulders to cry on will be available onsite.
(Image: Everett Collection/Rex Features)
Royal watchers for whom rehashing Kate Middleton’s outfits online just isn’t cutting it anymore still have a few days to check out the Grace Kelly exhibit at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. TIFF has extended the hours of Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess until the show closes on January 22, giving Torontonians one last opportunity to check out the replica of the wedding dress Kelly wore in her 1956 wedding to Prince Rainier III of Monaco, as well as many of her original dresses, her tiara and the original Kelly bag. The exhibition will now be open until 8 p.m. on Sundays and 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. After that, it’s back to the old DVD collection (we can already feel a classic movie marathon coming on).
Viggo Mortensen (Image: Ben Pruchnie/FilmMagic/Getty Images Entertainment)
Forget how little clothing you’ve seen Viggo Mortensen wearing (for a second), because he’s a person too. He “rang up” Vulture recently to discuss A Dangerous Method (he plays Freud—he jumped in when Christophe Waltz had to pull out), among other things, and here are five tidbits we took away (take note of how much he love, love, loves David Cronenberg):
1. He loves David Cronenberg
Mortensen believes that Cronenberg should have a movie out every year (he has, after all, been in three of them), but because his films are typically consumed on DVD, there’s usually a considerable gap between each picture. And for those wondering to how high a standard Morty holds Cronenberg: “Woody Allen is a great director, but I wouldn’t say that his track record over the last several years is as solid as David’s, in my opinion, and yet he gets to make a movie every year somehow.”
2. He isn’t naked in A Dangerous Method (sorry) Read the rest of this entry »
Morty says he smoked and ate until he developed Freud’s paunch (something he wryly points out took some hard work). We’d just like to point out to the Oscar people that Charlize Theron received an Oscar for eating Krispy Kreme donuts for her role in Monster (just saying).
A follow-up trailer has come out for The Vow, a movie coming out in February featuring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. This isn’t groundbreaking cinema: a married couple gets into a car accident, and the wife (played by McAdams) gets amnesia. Will he ever get his wife back? Probably.
The official trailer for the much-anticipated film adaption of young-adult series The Hunger Games has been revealed today. The film cast includes the beloved Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci, in addition to a cast of young stars who try to kill each other, including Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson. Check out the trailer above to see a ragtag group of boys and girls from 12 colonies preparing for the fight of their lives. We think it is a much more civilized version of Battle Royale.
Our hat tips to Fashion for revealing the trailer to us.
The serene highnesses, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène of Monaco, flanked by Hermann Bühlbecker and Karl Lagerfeld (Image: Nadja Amireh)
Their Serene Highnesses, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène of Monaco, are in Hogtown to celebrate the prince’s famous mother. “Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess,” which we featured in our Best of Fall roundup, opens Friday at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The exhibit contains all manner of Kelly paraphernalia, including letters from Alfred Hitchcock and her Oscar for The Country Girl (plus the gown she wore to receive it). The prince and princess will attend a grand opening reception today.
Controversial director Lars von Trier is the subject of a new, short running TIFF Bell Lightbox retrospective from November 9 to 19. The Lightbox will screen a number of Von Trier’s films, including his latest, Melancholia, which stars Kirsten Dunst and has yet to be released in theatres in Toronto. Von Trier made headlines earlier this year at a Cannes press conference for the film with some Nazi comments, and since then he has apologized and retreated from the public eye. According to a press release, the select retrospective “[moves] from raw realism to strikingly fabricated fantasy, [showcasing] not only von Trier’s incredible versatility and prolificacy, but also the haunting, deeply felt obsession with apocalypse—personal, societal, cosmic.” Several highlights after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
For everyone that has ever converted a backpack into a proton pack for Halloween (or on any other occasion—we’re not judging!) or had a certain theme song stuck in their head, we’ve got some news: Dan Aykroyd confirms that the script for Ghostbusters III in almost finished. In fact, he had it on hand when he spoke with the Canadian Press recently. “The script is in my truck, so that’ll tell you how close we are,” Aykroyd said during an appearance at an LCBO to promote his vodka line. The only problem: Bill Murray has yet to confirm he’ll participate in the sequel. “I don’t think any of us would do it if Bill said no,” Sigourney Weaver told Collider.com in a recent interview. “Why would we do that? I think the whole point is to get together and have fun,” she said. Aykroyd mimicked Weaver’s sentiments yesterday, telling the Canadian Press that “[Murray] is certainly welcome to walk in the door anytime. We love him. And it’s hard to contemplate doing it without him.” Aykroyd will appear in the film to train a whole new crew and introduce a female ghostbuster into the mix because, unlike a reluctant Murray, he isn’t afraid of no ghost.
• Dan Aykroyd says ‘Ghostbusters’ script almost done [Canadian Press]
Paramedics had difficulty telling the injured from the undead yesterday at Cinespace Film Studios: after an accident during the filming of Resident Evil: Retribution 3D, 16 actors portraying the undead were seen murmuring and writhing, naturally creating some confusion—were they acting, or possibly dying? The necromantic scourge could have been seriously injured when the wheeled platform they were on shifted, causing a four-foot fall—according to a report by the Associated Press, a Toronto EMS worker noted that the appearance of their putrid, reanimated flesh made it difficult to judge the severity of the damage. Twelve victims were taken to hospital, although none of the injuries were life-threatening and no one got flattened into a Jill sandwich—although there was a series of injuries, including cracked ribs, a broken leg and a spinal injury (which wasn’t paralyzing, though Milla Jovovich did visit the victim, no doubt to finish the job—she does, after all, portray a zombie hunter). Seven of those zombies, numb to the damage their ragged bodies endured—or, not wanting to miss billable work hours—have already returned to the set. Read the entire story [Associated Press] »
(Image: The original Total Recall)
Whether spotting Jessica Biel biking down Queen West (with beau Justin Timberlake no less), stretching with Colin Farrell at Yoga on Yonge Street or painstakingly avoiding Lakeshore Blvd. for a few days in July, Torontonians certainly felt the impact of Total Recall filming in the city. The Toronto Star goes so far to tout the film as saving Toronto’s film industry by funneling nearly $1 Billion into the municipal economy this summer. We looked into how the payout breaks down into Toronto’s economy. See the numbers after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
That’s just one of the many fun facts about David Strathairn in a short profile of the Academy Award–nominated actor by Johanna Schneller in the weekend edition of the Globe and Mail. Strathairn is in Toronto to shoot Alphas, a series for the SyFy network, and he spoke with Schneller regarding his role in Larysa Kondracki’s new flick—also starring Rachel Weisz and Vanessa Redgrave—about the true story of the United Nations peacekeeper in Bosnia who uncovered a human trafficking scandal. Apparently, the reason Kondracki had to write to the prime minister was to ask for an exemption to the rule that limits the number of U.S. actors who can work in Canadian co-productions, and Harper must have given her his consent, because Strathairn appears in the film (and for scale!). Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
Since he played the iconic George-Michael on the short-lived (come on, Fox let Unhappily Ever After last five seasons) cult classic, Arrested Development, Brampton native Michael Cera has gone Hollywood. With the film version ready to begin production for a projected 2012 release, Cera remains the lone holdout among cast members. It seems as though fans have been asking when the Arrested Development movie will be made since the moment the show got the ax from the folks at Fox way back in 2006. During its three seasons, Arrested Development inexplicably failed to secure any kind of meaningful viewership, despite a loaded cast featuring Cera, Will Arnett, David Cross, Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale and Jeffrey Tambor—although it has become the TV box set equivalent of a Criterion Collectable in recent years.
Well, it took five solid years of will it/won’t it speculation, but last week Arnett took to Marc Maron’s WTF podcast to confirm that, yes, the Arrested Development movie will happen, and it will happen soon. It’s hard to imagine a Bluth family without George-Michael, so we expect that creator/producer/writer Mitch Hurwitz will get it together in time. But until then, whet your appetite with some of our favourite Arrested Development moments after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
Finally, movies for the sailing community
The Toronto Port Authority is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and to give us all a reason to think the TPA is awesome, they will be hosting Sail-In Cinema—North America’s first ever “floating movie event”—from August 18 to 20 in the harbour at Sugar Beach. The TPA will screen one movie every night at 9 p.m. on a 28-foot two-sided screen, so guests can watch in boats or on solid land. The TPA is accepting requests for water-themed movies until July 22 (with the winning submission scoring two tickets to anywhere in North America, courtesy of Air Canada). Since most of the movies we could think of involving water are about how it’s a cold and unforgiving place —Jaws, Open Water, The Perfect Storm, Waterworld—we look forward to seeing how the TPA will spin this as kid-friendly without having to show The Little Mermaid or Finding Nemo.
Images: Sailboat by Joanna Penn and Drive-in by Matt
Read the rest of this entry »
Back in January, we heard whisperings that Canada may be getting its own superhero on the big screen. Now, Toronto-based Minds Eye Entertainment announced yesterday that it has picked up the rights to the Captain Canuck comic book from creator Richard Comley, and it’s shopping for a writer and director to bring the great Canuck to the big screen. After the jump, more about the plans to make the movie and who we’ve selected as the perfect gentlemen to play the role of our axe-wielding crusader.
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